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A review by hollyhc_
An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson
3.0
Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group for providing me an eARC to review.
An Education in Malice is a reimagining of Carmilla, set in 1960s New England. This story follows academic rivals, Laura and Carmilla as they battle for the praise of their poetry lecturer. This is a sapphic vampire novel focusing on obsession, life and death.
Personally, I have not read many classics or much poetry, so a lot of the references went over my head. Though this is the case, it was clear that the environment portrayed here is one that S. T. Gibson is familiar with. I didn't delve too much in to the story before beginning and so the 60s setting was a surprise to me. I felt that we were successfully transported to a college campus during this time period. I liked the snippets of other friendships the girls had and would have liked to have seen these more as I felt Laura's character benefitted from them greatly.
I enjoyed the dynamic between the 2 main characters, sexually and otherwise. It was also a pleasant surprise to see familiar faces from A Dowry of Blood. I do think that the relationship developed quite quickly and I would have like to have seen how things would have turned out with their rivalry if it had been allowed to stew. I feel that both of S. T. Gibson books I have read so far could have benefited from being longer. They just need that extra 100 or so pages to flesh out more so that I can really care about what is going on. Regardless, I though appreciated Laura's character development and how she began to bloom throughout the story.
Overall I did enjoy this book and will be reading future released by S. T. Gibson
An Education in Malice is a reimagining of Carmilla, set in 1960s New England. This story follows academic rivals, Laura and Carmilla as they battle for the praise of their poetry lecturer. This is a sapphic vampire novel focusing on obsession, life and death.
Personally, I have not read many classics or much poetry, so a lot of the references went over my head. Though this is the case, it was clear that the environment portrayed here is one that S. T. Gibson is familiar with. I didn't delve too much in to the story before beginning and so the 60s setting was a surprise to me. I felt that we were successfully transported to a college campus during this time period. I liked the snippets of other friendships the girls had and would have liked to have seen these more as I felt Laura's character benefitted from them greatly.
I enjoyed the dynamic between the 2 main characters, sexually and otherwise. It was also a pleasant surprise to see familiar faces from A Dowry of Blood. I do think that the relationship developed quite quickly and I would have like to have seen how things would have turned out with their rivalry if it had been allowed to stew. I feel that both of S. T. Gibson books I have read so far could have benefited from being longer. They just need that extra 100 or so pages to flesh out more so that I can really care about what is going on. Regardless, I though appreciated Laura's character development and how she began to bloom throughout the story.
Overall I did enjoy this book and will be reading future released by S. T. Gibson